‘American Honey’ Ending Explained: What’s the Meaning Behind the Turtle?

‘American Honey’ is a 2016 road drama and slice-of-life movie written and directed by Andrea Arnold. The movie features an incredible cast and won numerous awards for its take on the coming-of-age story with a somehow unconventional approach. One thing that fascinated the viewers regarding the movie is how the ending is open-ended, and the movie started numerous narratives without finishing either one of them in its 163-minute runtime. If you are confused regarding the ending, trust me, you’re not the only one. This is why we’re going to try to explain both the movie and our take on how the story between Jake and Star finished. So let’s go!

Star does not have a good life, but she longs to see more and be more

The first scene of the movie introduces us to Star (Sasha Lane). She is a teenage girl taking care of Rubin and Misty, two kids that aren’t even hers. She is broke and down on her luck and is hitchhiking to presumably return home. While hitchhiking, a white van approaches filled with young people who are partying; she follows them to a local K-Mart and sees one of the guys, Jake (Shia LaBeouf), dancing to Rihanna’s ‘We Found Love’ on top of the registers before security is forced to usher him out. In the mess, Jake drops his phone, and Star uses the opportunity to return it to him.

At the parking lot, Star returns the phone to Jake, and he immediately takes a liking to her; she asks her whether she is interested in a job as a part of a magazine sales crew that travels Midwest America. Star doesn’t give him a conclusive answer, and Jake tells her to be near a motel where they are staying at 6 AM sharp; they are leaving for Kansas City. Star returns home with the kids, and the house is a complete mess. They are obviously very poor, and the neighborhood is presumably littered with crime and drugs, and the kids’ father seems like the type.

Star is dating their father, but he gives off the “abuser” vibe, and after, he forces Star to dance with him and tries to grope her while Star is silently crying. Something within her snaps, and she decides to pick up the kids in the middle of the night, escape from home, and join the magazines sales crew. Star delivers the kids to their biological mother, who doesn’t really want them, and escapes; she sleeps in the parking lot of a motel, and at 6 AM, Jake and the rest of the group can be seen leaving the motel. Star joins them and meets their leader, Krystal. Krystal seems like a total asshole, but business is business, and despite having a group of druggies as employees, she is trying to maintain the atmosphere of professionalism. Star is in, and her trainer for the first week of the job will be Jake himself.

Star finally gets a taste of freedom, and it leads straight into Jake’s arms

Now, the thing is, since the first moment, Jake obviously has a thing for Star, and she has a thing for him, which complicates matters because Krystal, the boss, is also sleeping with Jake and holding him under her iron thumb. Jake is supposed to train Star for the first week, but he does a really bad job at it since his unique approach to selling magazines (also known as scamming people) doesn’t really work for people who are not willing to lie. As the days of training pass, Krystal notices that Jake, who was her top seller, is suddenly underdelivering.

Star eventually needs to make her own sale, and she develops her own unique approach, too; she hitches a ride from wealthy older cowboys and makes a $400 dollar sale. Jake eventually rushes into their property, thinking that he is supposed to “save” Star from the abuse; he forces cowboys into the pool and steals their car. Jake is not convinced that Star made a $400 dollar sale without sleeping, but they smooth their argument pretty quickly, and the two have sex for the first time, sealing their “relationship.” Back at the motel with the rest of the gang, Jake warns Star not to talk about their relationship and takes Star’s $400 dollar sale to appease Krystal, who is already super-suspicious regarding them. As the days pass by, Krystal shows her antagonistic tendencies toward Star more and more and is openly questioning whether she should keep her on the crew.

Star has her first reality check and seemingly breaks up with Jake

Jake and Star are “successfully” hiding their relationship from the group, and one night, Star asks him what his future dream is. Jake uncovers a stash of jewelry and money he stole from people’s houses when he was selling magazines and tells her that he has a dream that he will be able to afford a small place in the middle of nowhere in the woods. Star likes this idea and starts coming up with plans on how to earn more money. The next morning, Krystal drops the girls off at the oil fields to sell some magazines to rich oil workers, and Star, using her charismatic and somewhat naive approach, asks the guys to give her a ride to the oil fields while she pitches her sale.

One of the guys offers her $500 to go on a date with him later that night, and Star accepts but raises the price to $1000. The guy picks her up and takes her to the oil fields. He asks for a hand job, and Star somewhat reluctantly delivers. The two engage in a sexual act, and the guy returns Star home. However, he is attacked by Jake, and Star rushes into the house with Jake following her. He gets extremely mad that Star had sex with the guy for money, but Star decides to explain that she only did it to give him the money for a trailer in the woods. Jake isn’t having it and blows up the place, smashing furniture. He goes away and doesn’t return ever again, while a new girl joins the crew.

Krystal has a private talk with Star and explains that Jake gets $100 dollars every time he recruits a new girl, that he sleeps with all of them, and that she is nothing special. She also tells her that Jake has been fired and is not returning ever again. Krystal tries to give off a vibe that she is nonchalant regarding everything, but seeing that she is visibly high and tries to fill a Jake-shaped hole with two different guys, we’re not exactly buying it.

‘American Honey’ ending isn’t really the ending; it’s a new beginning

Star now has to deal with Jake leaving, and the group continues their “business” ventures at a new location. But she is surprised to see Jake returning later that day in a white van. The two don’t talk, and seemingly, it’s over between them. The group has a bonfire party, and while everyone is dancing and enjoying the music, Jake pushes Star to the side, and without a single word, he hands her a single small turtle.

Star walks over to the edge of the water and releases the turtle while entering the water and diving beneath the surface. She resurfaces in a scene that reminds me of baptism, and the movie ends. So there’s that. Nobody’s story was complete, and we don’t really know anything regarding how their lives turned out. That wasn’t the point of the movie. My own understanding of the movie and the final scene was that it was supposed to present Star’s “rebirth” into an adult person with much more life experience.

Despite growing up in terrible conditions and seeing firsthand the devastation that drugs, poverty, and abuse can do to you, Star had a pretty naive approach to life. This is evident in the type of questions that she asks people and the fact that she is willing to go into every car and accept drinks from just about anybody. Jake is also quite possibly her first real romance, and despite being twisted, Star soon finds out that things are rarely how they are seen.

By releasing the turtle into the water and “baptizing” herself in the water, Star symbolically shed her naive self and emerged a new and more powerful and experienced young woman. Over the course of that few weeks, she earned her first money; she saw both the rich and poor sides of the country, she partied, she cried, and she fell in love. It’s years worth of experience saturated in just a short span of time. And that’s the movie about, not about Star’s “Ending” but rather about just a glimpse of her story toward maturity.

What’s your take on the movie? Let us know in the comments below!